AFTER  A 
CENTURY 
IN  CHINA 

By  Rev.  FRANK  S.  DOBBINS 


AMERICAN  BAPTIST  MISSIONARY  UNION 
BOSTON  MASSACHUSETTS 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 
Columbia  University  Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/aftercenturyinchOOdobb 


AFTER  A CENTURY 
IN  CHINA 


N September,  1807,  the  first  Protestant 
missionary  in  China,  Robert  Morrison, 
landed  at  Macao.  In  1836,  Rev.  J.  L. 
Shuck,  the  first  American  Baptist  mis- 
sionary, arrived  at  the  same  port.  When 
he  and  his  wife  reached  China  they  were 
taken  from  the  vessel  in  which  they 
had  sailed  to  another  nearer  shore  and 
landed  secretly.  In  those  days  and  until  within  very 
recent  years  China  was  hostile  to  all  foreigners.  A hun- 
dred years  ago  there  were  no  missionaries ; now  there 
are  3,700.  Then  there  was  not  a single  convert ; after 
seven  years  of  labor  one  convert  was  won,  and  a few 
years  later  some  others.  About  this  time  Dr.  Milne 
said,  “It  may  be  that  God  will  bless  this  v/ork,  and  at 
the  end  of  a hundred  years  we  may  hope  to  have  even 
so  many  as  a thousand  converts.”  That  was  an  utter- 
ance of  sublime  faith ; but  God  has  so  marvelously 
prospered  the  work  that  instead  of  1,000  there  are  now 


AFTER  A CENTURY  IN  CHINA 


191,000  converts.  For  many  long  years  missionaries 
were  confined  to  the  coast;  but,  beginning  with  i860, 
they  began  to  go  into  the  interior,  and  now  they  are 
to  be  found  in  every  province  of  that  great  empire. 
There  are  now  4,760  places  from  which  go  forth  light 
and  heat  and  power,  as  from  so  many  dynamos. 

EYE  WITNESSES  IN  CHINA 

During  the  year  1907,  upon  the  urgent  invitation 
of  our  missionaries  in  China,  a deputation  was  sent 
to  that  empire  to  examine,  as  friendly  visitors,  the  work 
that  American  Baptists  were  doing  there  and  to  observe 
the  reported  changes  in  conditions.  Through  the  prac- 
tical and  energetic  backing  of  some  Baptist  laymen, 
about  a score  of  American  Baptists,  in  several  parties, 
made  a careful  study  of  the  work  on  the  field.  The 
expenses  of  the  party  were  borne  privately.  Writing 
from  Shanghai,  the  deputation  report : “ We  are  pro- 
foundly impressed  with  the  loyalty  and  genuine  conse- 
cration of  our  missionaries.  . . . They  are  proving 

themselves  worthy  in  the  highest  degree  of  the  confi- 
dence of  all  Christians.  We  wish,  also,  to  record  our 
appreciation  of  the  faithful  work  of  the  Missionary 
Union  in  the  face  of  such  conditions  as  have  seldom, 
if  ever,  been  encountered  hitherto  by  missionary  boards 
on  foreign  fields.”  They  then  praise  “the  patience 
and  confidence  and  devotion  ” of  our  Executive  Com- 


AFTER  A CENTURY  IN  CHINA 


mittee  and  officers,  and  end  their  report  by  an  appeal 
to  American  Baptists  to  add  to  their  usual  gifts 
$500,000  for  providing  adequate  equipment  for  our 
missions  in  the  Far  East. 

IN  PRAISE  OF  THE  MISSIONARIES 

Two  American  ministers  to  China,  who  have  had 
intimate  knowledge  of  mission  work  during  the  last 
twenty  years,  have  borne  magnificent  testimony  to  the 
splendid  achievements  of  the  missionaries.  Neither 
of  these  was  connected  in  any  way  with  any  missionary 
society,  and  indeed  neither  was  a member  of  a Christian 
church.  Neither  Colonel  Denby  nor  Mr.  Conger  could 
by  any  possibility  have  written  more  enthusiastically 
than  they  did.  I have  their  testimony  in  their  own 
handwriting.  Beside  these  may  be  placed  the  testi- 
mony of  Viceroy  Tuan  Fang,  who  says,  speaking  for 
the  Chinese  Government:  “We  take  pleasure  in  bear- 
ing testimony  to  the  part  taken  by  American  mission- 
aries in  promoting  the  progress  of  the  Chinese  people. 
They  have  borne  the  light  of  Western  civilization  into 
every  nook  and  corner  of  the  empire.  The  awakening 
of  China,  which  now  seems  to  be  at  hand,  may  be 
traced  in  no  small  measure  to  the  hands  of  the  mission- 
aries. And  for  their  service  you  will  find  China  not 
ungrateful.”  In  my  own  journey  through  China  I was 
repeatedly  assured  by  business  men  and  by  men  con- 
nected with  the  diplomatic  service,  that  the  missionaries 


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AFTER  A CENTURY  IN  CHINA 


of  today,  and  especially  the  American  missionaries, 
are  doing  an  amazing  amount  of  good  for  the  people, 
physically  and  mentally  as  well  as  religiously. 

THE  EDICTS 

The  empress  dowager  of  China  has  veered  around 
completely  from  the  position  she  took  just  before  the 
Boxer  uprising.  Edict  after  edict  is  coming  from  her 
palace  looking  towards  great  reforms.  The  plan  for 
abolishing  the  opium  traffic  within  ten  years ; for  put- 
ting an  end  to  the  cruel  custom  of  footbinding;  the 
establishment  of  a constitutional  form  of  government 
somewhat  like  that  of  Japan;  the  recognition  of  Sun- 
day as  a holiday  in  the  government  offices  and  schools; 
and  above  all,  the  decree  that  Chinese  officials  shall 
hereafter  be  selected  from  those  who  have  passed 
examinations  in  the  Western  learning,  with  the  giving 
up  of  the  old-time  examinations  in  the  Chinese 
classics,  — all  these  things  show  that  China  is  awake. 
Sir  Robert  Hart,  the  foremost  foreigner  in  all  China, 
says  that  during  the  first  forty-five  years  of  his  stay  in 
that  empire,  China  was  like  a closed  room;  but  that 
within  the  last  five  or  six  years  the  doors  and  windows 
have  been  thrown  wide  open  and  the  breezes  of 
Western  suggestions  have  been  freely  sweeping  in. 
Sir  Robert  Hart  assured  me  that  he  believed  China 
was  awake,  not  to  fall  asleep  again. 


4 


AFTER  A CENTURY  IN  CHINA 


CHINA’S  RELIGIOUS  NEED 

There  is  abundant  material  for  those  who  desire  to 
learn  about  the  three  great  religions  of  China,  Bud- 
dhism, Taoism,  and  Confucianism,  as  well  as  about 
ancestor  worship  and  that  queer  but  powerful  supersti- 
tion fung  shui.  Here,  however,  we  are  concerned  with 
more  intimate  problems.  Our  missionaries  assure  us 
that  the  problem  in  China  is  the  same  as  that  in  the 
United  States,  the  protest  of  the  sinful  heart  against 
yielding  to  the  summons  of  a holy  God.  But  that  prob- 
lem is  intensified  by  the  heathen  religions  and  is  made 
immensely  greater  by  the  fact  that  the  population  of 
China  is  so  tremendous.  Four  hundred  million  souls 
needing  salvation  by  Christ!  Here  in  the  United 
States  there  are  55,000,000  needing  conversion  and 
some  21,000,000,  including  foreigners,  negroes,  and 
people  in  the  far  West,  who  need  evangelizing. 

MOVEMENTS  TOWARD  COOPERATION 

Face  to  face  with  overwhelming  difficulties  and  a 
gigantic  task,  the  missionaries  are  not  concerning 
themselves  about  some  of  the  smaller  problems  that 
enter  into  ecclesiastical  life.  They  are  aiming  to  do 
their  work  most  wisely  and  rapidly.  There  is  a move- 
ment of  federation  between  denominations  that  are 
akin  to  each  other  in  beliefs  and  practises,  and  a 
movement  looking  to  union  of  effort  wherever  that  is 


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AFTER  A CENTURY  IN  CHINA 


possible  without  the  sacrifice  of  denominational  con- 
victions. The  spirit  of  comity  is  abroad  in  China ; 
indeed,  one  may  say  comity  is  rarely  violated  in  that 
field.  Baptists,  north  and  south,  are  cooperating  in  pub- 
lishing the  Bible  and  books  helpful  to  its  understanding, 
as  well  as  in  the  training  of  theological  students. 

AMERICAN  BAPTISTS  IN  CHINA 

The  first  Baptist  Christian  was  baptized  in  Macao 
in  1837,  the  year  after  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Shuck.  The 
work  was  transferred  from  Macao  to  Hongkong  in  1842, 
and  in  i860  to  Swatow.  Rev.  William  Ashmore,  D.D., 
and  Rev.  J.  W.  Johnson,  who  had  been  working  for  the 
Chinese  in  Bangkok  from  1850,  were  our  first  mission 
aries  to  settle  there.  In  1843  Dr.  Macgowan  began 
work  in  Ningpo.  Dr.  Lord  followed  in  1847 
Dr.  Goddard  in  1849.  Dr.  Goddard’s  son  and  grand- 
son are  at  present  (1907)  engaged  in  the  work  in  China. 
In  1889  we  began  work  in  West  China,  and  in  1893 
at  Hanyang  in  Central  China.  The  full  story  of  our 
work  in  these  four  centers,  known  as  the  South  China 
Mission,  the  East  China  Mission,  the  West  China 
Mission,  the  Central  China  Mission,  is  told  in  the 
pamphlet  “ Missions  in  China  ” issued  by  the  Mission- 
ary Union.  According  to  our  last  report,  we  had  in 
China  42  ordained  missionaries,  7 unordained  mission- 
aries, chiefly  physicians,  45  wives  of  missionaries. 


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AFTER  A CENTURY  IN  CHINA 


every  one  of  whom  is  engaged  in  missionary  work,  19 
single  women,  of  whom  6 are  physicians,  — a total  of 
1 13  missionaries.  We  have  305  native  workers,  with 
5,115  members  of  mission  churches,  of  whom  442 
were  added  the  preceding  year.  In  1906  we  spent 
upon  our  missions  in  China  $128,440.  Other  parts 
of  our  great  field  received  somewhat  larger  sums  pro- 
portionately, and  the  suggestion  that  more  workers 
and  more  money  shall  be  put  into  China  does  not 
mean  diminution  of  the  gifts  for  other  sections,  which 
would  mean  retrenchment  of  the  work  there,  but  rather 
an  increase  in  our  gifts  so  as  to  make  possible  the 
enlargement  of  our  work  demanded  in  China. 

THE  NEED  FOR  CHRISTIAN  SCHOOLS 

While  not  abating  in  the  least  their  zeal  for  evan- 
gelistic work,  our  missionaries  in  China  are  very 
eagerly  desirous  of  adding  to  the  equipment  that 
which  is  absolutely  needed  to  meet  the  demands  for 
Christian  education.  All  China  is  in  an  educational 
ferment.  There  is  an  indescribable  enthusiasm  mani- 
fest among  the  younger  Chinese  for  an  education. 
The  Chinese  Government  finds  itself  absolutely  un- 
equipped, and  if  it  had  all  facilities,  the  education  that 
it  would  impart  would  be  very  strongly  antagonistic 
to  Christian  ideas.  The  ideal  which  the  missionaries 
hold  before  them  is  to  have  day  schools  in  connection 


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AFTER  A CENTURY  IN  CHINA 


with  each  single  station,  high  schools  in  the  central 
stations,  and  two  or  three  colleges  and  three  theologi- 
cal seminaries.  These  are  urgent  necessities.  The 
hunger  and  thirst  of  the  Chinese  to  be  taught  and  the 
importance  that  our  Christians  do  a large  part  toward 
evangelizing  their  own  countrymen  unite  in  appealing 
to  us  for  special  help  at  this  critical  period. 

Never  in  the  world’s  history  has  a nation  so  rapidly 
emerged  from  the  darkness  toward  the  light.  Never 
has  there  been  an  opportunity  afforded  Christians  like 
that  given  us  at  present  in  China  for  influencing  a peo- 
ple while  in  a receptive  condition.  And  never  has  the 
cry,  “ Come  over  and  help  us  ”,  sounded  so  forceful  in 
the  ears  of  any  Christians  as  does  this  from  China. 
Never  was  there  a country  where  young  men  could  so 
invest  their  abilities  and  so  use  their  talents  to  advan- 
tage. Never  was  there  a country  where  money  invested 
for  the  Kingdom  would  bring  such  splendid  returns. 
Americans  seem  to  possess  the  especial  good-will  of  the 
Chinese,  and  American  Baptists  in  the  years  that  are 
gone  have  so  nobly  lived  and  so  wisely  planned 
their  work  that  we  are  now  prepared  to  erect  on  the 
foundations  already  laid  a splendid  superstructure  for 
the  honor  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  advance  work  for  the 
salvation  of  China.  Shall  we  improve  our  opportunity 
and  make  the  advance  ? 


676.1  Ed.-5  M. -November,  1907.  Price,  a cents. 


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